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The bath is at the perfect temperature and has oils that smell so delicious I feel like I’m bathing in a… I don’t even know. A really fucking good bath, that’s what. A bath that makes me feel like more than just my skin is being rejuvenated. Foaming beads ensure that I am covered modestly when my sundae is delivered. I scoop it into my face with intense enjoyment, feeling that absolute freedom that comes with having all my material needs met and exceeded.
6 DROWNING
Blub blub blub…
I wake up in the bath with my nose just above the waterline. A little trickle of water is sucked up into the back of my nose as I sit up spluttering.
“That was dangerous,” I mutter to myself, displeased. I should know better than to recklessly… hell, who am I kidding. Everything I do is reckless. You get that way when life teaches you that being sensible doesn’t get you anywhere anyway.
“Aristo! Someone needs to supervise me in the bath!” I call out.
Unfortunately, the way I am yelling is being covered up by an absolute cacophony, the same cacophony that must have woken me up just as I started to drown. The fans are faring again, irritatingly loudly this time. I’d love to wonder why they’re blaring, but I also want to go to sleep, so I’m mostly annoyed.
I get out of my cool bath, wrap myself in the fluffy towel that doesn’t feel as fluffy as it should, and notice that the bed hasn’t been made. My stomach is rumbling a little. A chocolate sundae, even a big one, isn’t really food. A human is made of needs that just keep needing no matter what. It’s very frustrating, that way.
“Aristo!”
“Aristo!”
I call for my servant, for that is how I think of him now. It has only been a few days, but now I’m having a hard time imagining what my life would be like without someone like him doing everything for me.
“Aristo!?”
He usually appears in under a minute, but the seconds tick by and he does not appear. I start to get irritated. I’m used to him arriving, and the fact that he isn’t here now feels like a betrayal somehow. It does not take long to get spoiled. I’ve been waited on hand and foot for a few days now, and I want more of it, dammit.
I go outside, because I am forced to. As I step into the heat and the sun, I realize that I haven’t actually been outside since I arrived. The outdoors now feels like a real inconvenience. All that light getting in my eyes starts to hurt.
“Aristo! I’m starving here.”
There’s still no response. A strong wind is blowing, whipping up volcanic grit in the way that feels like it is trying to deliberately drive it into my eyes.
Where the hell is everyone? Did they find some new uncaught pocket of natives to destroy? Is there a feeding frenzy going on somewhere nearby? I don’t hear any terrified, tortured screams, so that seems unlikely.
The fanfare has finally faded away, but I still feel sensorily overwhelmed. The world is too big, too hot, too rough, and I am wearing a damp towel. I hear a footstep behind me.
“There you are! I’ve been looking for you…”
“Hello, my queen.”
A large hand closes around the back of my neck and a wave of horror flows through me as Emrys takes hold of me. He turns me around to face him, and I feel all the fear I have been forgetting to feel the last few days running through me at once. Emrys is a valker the same way a black hole is a star. He is the most evolved and most dangerous form of valker. He is taller than the others, he is even more handsome than the others, and his magnetism is irresistible.
“You know, anybody sensible would have fled the very first night. Actually, anybody sensible would have never landed at all. But you lack sense, deliberately so. You are not stupid, but you are foolhardy to an extent I cannot believe.”
“I…” The attempt at speech fails in my throat.
Emrys has plenty to say for the both of us.
“I thought they were mad when they told me that my mate awaited me,” Emrys says, his tone incredulous. “You must surely be the maddest little creature in all the universe. To have led me on this merry chase, to have fired upon me, to have cost me millions in ship repairs, to have disrespected and refused me… only to come to the very place where you are needed. Why?”
“Why not?”
“Why not!? Because I am the incarnation of every evil creature that ever existed, and you know it to your marrow. Your presence gives me the uncomfortable feeling that this is somehow a trap, though how could it be? You are the prey.”
“I know,” I smile. My smile isn’t triumphant. It’s guilty, and a little confused, and a lot still afraid.
I’m not sure what the hell I’m doing. All I know is that it felt good and empowering to be treated like a queen, and that’s the way I want to feel. My every whim and desire has been catered to. Emrys is even speaking to me with a little less contempt and loathing. I think he might be pleased to see me.
“With you here, and me here, it is safe to say that homecoming has begun,” he says. “Let’s get you out of that towel and into something appropriate.”
